Blog recap: Michigan rides new lineup into Round of 32

Trey Burke, shown practicing Wednesday at The Palace of Auburn Hills, will lead the Wolverines into NCAA tournament action against South Dakota State.Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com

AUBURN HILLS --

FINAL
Michigan advances to face the winner of No. 5 VCU and No. 12 VCU, and did it by a comfortable 15 points despite Trey Burke turning in his worst game of the season. Impressive. Burke finished with a season-low six points on 2-of-12 shooting, but was picked up by outstanding performances from Glenn Robinson III (21 points on 8-of-9 shooting, 3-of-3 from deep) and Tim Hardaway Jr. (21 points on 8-of-13 shooting, including 5-of-7 from deep).

John Beilein made his first meaningful lineup change since inserting Nik Stauskas early in the nonconference season, and Mitch McGary delivered the goods. He had 13 points and nine rebounds, including a rim-shattering dunk late in the second half that helped ice the game. Don't expect him to leave the lineup any time soon.

The Wolverines flopped last year against a No. 13 seed, but advances easily after a slow start. They face VCU or Akron at The Palace of Auburn Hills on Saturday, with a trip to the Sweet 16 at stake.

VCU and Akron should start in less than a half hour at The Palace.

SECOND HALFMichigan 67, South Dakota State 52
-- 3:30 second half
John Beilein made his first big lineup change since inserting Nik Stauskas in the nonconference season, and it's paid major dividends. Mitch McGary, getting the nod for Jordan Morgan, now has 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting and a team-high nine rebounds. He's made a couple freshman blunders, but overall he's provided tremendous energy and production at a position that had lacked it. He's played 25 minutes, Al Horford has 10 and Morgan has just 1. And Michigan is just 3:30 away from punching its ticket to the next round.

Michigan 63, South Dakota State 50
-- 5:15 second half
SDSU's Brayden Carlson now up to 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting. He averages ... fewer than 9 points per game. Pretty puzzling to see him going off. Except, well, until you look to see who is guarding him: Nik Stauskas. The freshman is a terrific shooter, but his defense has lacked much of the season and has been abysmal today.

Michigan 57, South Dakota State 43
-- -- 8:38 second half
Trey Burke has returned to the court after briefly going to the locker room. He had landed hard on the court, but appears to be OK. In actual basketball news, Hardaway just buried another 3-pointer. He had a team-high 19 points on 5-of-7 shooting from deep, helping Michigan build a big lead despite Burke's struggles.

Michigan 49, South Dakota State 41
-- 11:01 second half
Michigan's Final Four hopes just walked into the locker room, after Trey Burke fell hard to the court during the second half against San Diego State. His back smacking the court could be heard throughout the arena. He did walk off the court under his own power, which is a good sign. His backup is freshman Spike Albrecht, who just entered the game.

Michigan 47, South Dakota State 38
-- 12:27 second half
Michigan continues to lead, now by nine, thanks to torrid shooting from Glenn Robinson (6-of-6 overall, 3-of-3 from deep) and Tim Hardaway Jr. (5-of-8 overall, 4-of-6 from deep). But while they're 11-of-14 overall, everyone else is 6-of-22. Trey Burke is just 1-of-10.

Michigan 43, South Dakota State 36
-- 14:37 second half
Remember those old commercials where Michael Jordan would face off against Larry Bird, and had a catch line of something like "Anything you can do, I can do better"? That's GRIII right now, to Hardaway. THJ had the big first half, with 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting from deep. Now GRIII has hit three consecutive 3-pointers to begin the second half, and has a team-high 15 points on 5-of-5 shooting (including 3-of-3 from deep and 2-of-2 from the line). Michigan getting it done offensively, even with Burke 0-of-9 from the field.

HALFTIME
Well the good news is simple: Michigan holds a four-point halftime lead despite star point guard Trey Burke missing all seven of his first-half shots. He's also had some sloppy passes. Is that the worst half he's played this year? It's possible, and that's concerning. But remember, he's had slow starts before, only to put together torrid second halves (see: Purdue).

Tim Hardaway Jr. instead has been the star of the first half. He nailed back-to-back 3-pointers when Michigan trailed by nine midway through the half, climbing the Wolverines back into the game, and finished the first stanza with 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting from deep.

SDSU point guard Nate Wolters was all the rage coming into the game, but the Wolverines have done a nice job with him, limiting him to four points on 2-of-8 shooting. Instead, it's guard Brayden Carlson who has killed U-M, netting a team-high 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting (including 3-of-4 from deep).

FIRST HALFMichigan 25, South Dakota State 19
-- 2:48 first half
It took much of the first half, but Michigan starting to find some offense here at The Palace. Tim Hardaway Jr. nailed another 3-ball, Mitch McGary had his second dunk and the Wolverines now are amid a 17-3 run. Hardaway leading the way with 9 (on 3-of-4 shooting from deep), McGary has seven, Stauskas has five and GRIII four. Burke is 0-of-7 from the field -- but Michigan has a six-point lead, and a reason to be thankful.

South Dakota 16, Michigan 13
-- 7:25 first half
Yes, that score is the same as the last. Both teams have stagnated -- Michigan has only two field goals in the past 9-plus minutes. Trey Burke has had a particularly dreadful start, missing his first six shots. Only three players have scored for the Wolverines almost 13 minutes into this game.

South Dakota State 16, Michigan 13
-- 9:54 first half
Michigan, lacking rhythm, fell behind by as many as nine at the midpoint of the first half ... and then Tim Hardaway Jr. did Tim Hardaway Jr. things. He's not always the most consistent player -- but when he's on, he's on. And he just canned back-to-back 3-pointers in about a minute to close the gap to three. Only three players have scored for Michigan -- none of them named Burke. Hardaway has six, McGary five and GRIII two.

South Dakota State 11, Michigan 7
-- 12:30 first half
We heard all week about SDSU point guard Nate Wolters, who is the fourth-leading scorer in the country -- and it looks early that the guy's the real deal. Pretty shot, smooth moves ... just an artful player. He has four early points, and the double-digit-underdog Jackrabbits lead by the same margin.

Michigan 7, South Dakota State 6
-- 15:47 first half
John Beilein decided to shake up his lineup -- and boy, did it pay early dividends. Mitch McGary, starting for a healthy Jordan Morgan for the first time this season, scored Michigan's first five points. He's providing the energy he always does, only this time, it's from the tip. And it seems to be working. Expect to see Jordan Morgan in a bit, though. Beilein won't abandon him completely.

PREGAME

Reserve senior guard Matt Vogrich did not make the trip to the arena. He is sick and stayed in his hotel room. Not a huge loss for the Wolverines -- he only plays a couple minutes a game, if that. But if Stauskas or Hardaway get into major foul trouble, it could become more of an issue. Caris LeVert is the first guard off the bench right now, then point guard Spike Albrecht.

Michigan, faced with a do-or-die situation, has decided to jumble the lineup. Freshman forward Mitch McGary will start in the NCAA tournament opener, while junior Jordan Morgan will come off the bench. The move isn't entirely surprising -- MLive.com reported Wednesday that Beilein could pull the trigger on McGary. The rest of the starters are the regulars: Trey Burke, Tim Hardaway Jr., Nik Stauskas and Glenn Robinson III.

Michigan has spent the entire season ranked among the nation's 10 best teams.

Now it begins its quest to prove it belongs.

The fourth-seeded Wolverines (26-7) open NCAA tournament play Thursday against 13th-seeded South Dakota State (25-9)) at The Palace of Auburn Hills.

The game's must-watch matchup will be a battle of virtuosos at point guard. Michigan's Trey Burke is the Big Ten's player of the year and among the finalists for national player of the year.

But so is SDSU's Nate Wolters, who is fourth in the country at 22.7 points per game.

Burke and Wolters are their teams' catalysts, and both direct high-powered offenses rank among the top 40 in the country.

The question is, which team gets more stops?

And will Michigan's esteemed freshmen -- "The fresh five" -- embrace or recoil on the big stage?

So many questions. And we're about to get some answers. Follow along with MLive.com throughout tonight's game for live updates, and participate in the comments section below.